Stalled under-construction hydro electric projects that are above 25 MW are facing a cost overrun of ₹28,881 crore according to data compiled by the Central Electricity Authority.

The CEA has identified 16 such large hydropower projects and their anticipated cost is now ₹55,803 crore, more than twice the original projected investment of ₹26,922 crore.

According to the CEA, the annual loss of energy generation from the stalled projects is about 18,761 million units (MUs).

In all there are 37 large hydropower projects that are under construction in the country with 12,178.50 MW of capacity under execution. Of this, the 16 stalled projects aggregate to 5,950 MW.

According to the Ministry of Power, the current installed hydropower capacity is 45,487 MW which is 13.1 per cent of the total power generation capacity of the country.

NHPC Ltd’s Subansiri Lower project in Arunachal Pradesh/Assam is the largest of such stalled projects. The initial cost of this 2,000-MW project was ₹6,285 crore in December 2002. Today, the cost has ballooned to ₹18,559 crore as per the estimates on April 2017. Work was stopped at the project since December 2011 due to agitation by various activists, fearing dam safety and downstream impacts of dam. The case is pending before the Kolkata Bench of the National Green Tribunal.

The second largest pending project is the THDC’s 1,000 MW Tehri PSS in Uttarakhand. The cost of the project has risen from ₹1,657 crore in December 2005 to ₹3,939 crore as on date. According to the Ministry of Power, construction work was stopped here since April 2018 due to funds constraints with Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), a contractor of this project.

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